Renowned Nollywood actress, Stephanie Linus has lambasted critics who blamed Ese Oruru for the ordeal that befell the abducted teenage girl.
Ese, the 14-year-old girl from Bayelsa state was recently reunited with her family after she was abducted by one Yunusa and taken to Kano state.
Her family had been searching for her since she went missing in August 2015.
Although reunited with her family, the teenager was discovered to be 5 months pregnant.
While most Nigerians blamed the police and her parents for her ordeal, others reportedly took to blaming and accusing the teenager that she consciously ran away from home with ‘her lover’.
In the wake of the abduction and release of Ese, the thespian known for raising her voice against sexual abuse of the girl child and advocating for proper rights, took to her Twitter handle, @StephanieLinus to say there is no sense in laying blames on the teenager, “she is only but a child,” Stephanie wrote.
She tweeted, “I’ve been keenly following #EseOruru’s story on the news for some time now and the turn of events is really shocking, I must say!
“Different versions of her story keep creeping up in the news. It’s hard to know what to believe anymore.#EseOruru
“What I find most appalling is some people are blaming her for her predicament. Blaming a 14-year-old girl! For what? She is still a child!!
“It’s even more sad that there are still lots of girls taken from their parents care across the country and sexually abused everyday! There are many more Ese’s out there who have been turned to sex slaves as young girls.
“If we must learn anything from Ese’s story, it is that we must put more efforts into protecting the girl child.#EseOruru
“Ese is just a child. The conditions under which she was abducted or left her parent’s home is not the issue. She is a minor who was abused.
“Now she is bearing a child and her life has taken on a whole new path.#childnotbride
“She needs counselling and our prayers.
“But most of all, we all have a collective responsibility to ensure this doesn’t repeat itself again.
“I also pray for the young girls who were kidnapped from a secondary school in Lagos. May they be found safely & reunited with their families
“My prayers go out to Ese and her family I pray they find the strength to recover from this shocking experience #EseOruru #GirlChildEducation,” the mother of one penned down.
